I had a spot in the back corner of my backyard that always seemed to be
under water. My backyard slanted down hill and all the water seemed to
puddle there. I tilled a HUGE flower bed across the whole back yard (200
ft. wide by 10 ft. deep). Since I have red clay, I added peat moss and
tilled it in and then added about 3 inches of mulch on top. Now that spot is
the best spot in the whole yard. 7 years ago I planted a magnolia bush
about 3 feet high that my friend rooted for me from his bush and thought it
would take years and years for it to do good. Everyone tells me that they
have never seen one grow so fast. Now it is about 15 feet high already.

"Fiddler" wrote in message
oups.com...
Greetings All,

Just wanted to introduce myself and meet the gang. I'm starting a
garden this year on the west side of my 2 acre property. I've looked
at all of the conventional methods of earth gardening and have
determined that my garden sight needs a lot of work before I can plant.

Right now, it's under about 2 inches of water from the 3 inch rainfall

we had over the weekend. With this in mind, raised beds and good
drainage seems the only option and the time and expense involved with
having that ready for spring planting is a little bit of a problem.
I've ordered my seeds and built my seed starting rack but I'm now
thinking that maybe Hydroponics is the way to go this year and work on
the garden plot between now and the fall. Lots of compost material
with a two acre yard.

Since the plot that I am considering is covered with Bermuda grass, I
am considering raised beds in a 12" to 18" frame. The problem with
this is finding enough good garden soil and organic material to fill
the beds and still have time to get them planted. I bought a book on
lasagna gardening and think this is promising. The author says you can
plant in the beds as soon as they are built. I would love to hear from
anyone that have overcome similar problems and the methods they used.

Since I'm new to this group, your opinions would be invaluable in
determining
a proper course. I'll admit, Hydroponics is a complete paradigm shift
for me as I grew up in the cotton fields. I look forward to hearing
from you and hope that I can add something to the group.


Best Regards


Bob (Fiddler) Sawyer